Bill Muehlenberg
Author, Blogger and Speaker
Bill Muehlenberg, who was born in America, lives in Melbourne. He is married to an Australian, Averil, and has three sons. He has a BA with honours in philosophy (Wheaton College, Chicago), a MA with highest honours in theology (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston), and is working on a PhD in theology. He is Secretary of the Family Council of Victoria. He was formerly the National Vice President of the Australian Family Association. He was formerly the National Research Coordinator at Focus on the Family.
He currently continues an independent ministry in pro-faith and pro-family activism. He is head of an apologetics/ethics ministry called CultureWatch, started in January 2006. This interactive blogsite features over 3,300 articles and 52,000 comments.
Children Go to the Back of the Queue
That the West has a schizophrenic view of children and their wellbeing is an understatement. We go on and on about not separating children from their parents, as in debates over refugees and asylum seekers, but we extol as a human right the slaughter of unborn children.
You can't be a Christian Marxist (Though Plenty Have Tried)
In an age where reason and logic are not exactly the flavour of the month, sloppy thinking abounds. Public discourse has taken a big hit with plenty of talking heads offering us just plain nonsense. They can throw out utterly illogical and contradictory statements and think they are giving us great contributions to a discussion or debate.
The Attack of the 50 Foot Trans Tyrants
Victorian Nero Declares War on Christianity
[Photo credit: the Age] History repeats itself, which is why we all need to be students of history. And when we ignore or forget the lessons of history, we simply end up repeating the mistakes of history. Consider the increased paganization of the West and the corresponding rise in anti-Christian bigotry and persecution.
Gaga, Pence, and Christianity
We live in dark times. There is just no getting around that fact. Truth no longer means anything, feelings trump everything, and confusion abounds as to even the basics in life. Now we can’t even tell if someone is a boy or a girl, and we are said to be hateful and bigoted if we even try. Sadly, as anyone who seeks to present truth in the public arena and the social media knows, this has massively impacted our churches as well. Today most young people who call themselves Christians know little or nothing about their own faith, run on emotions, and tend to just drift along with the dominant secular culture. The church in the West is in a real bad way as a result, and things will likely only get worse. And as one of the most recent examples of this, consider the recent uproar taking place over Mike Pence, his wife, and Lady Gaga.
Yes, They Have Declared War on Children
It used to be that the best way to ascertain how civilised and compassionate a culture is was to see how they treated their most vulnerable – especially their own children. This had always been a good test of a caring culture. But it seems that in the West today we have turned that principle on its head. We now seem intent on destroying our children, and we happily use government policy to do so. A state-led war on children has been declared, and the casualties are mounting up. Of course I and others have documented this assault on our children for decades now. It is happening all over the West. No place seems immune from this ongoing war on our children and their innocence. Let me offer three recent shocking examples of how this is being played out in just one place: the Australian state of Western Australia. It seems the Labor Government there is so committed to radical social engineering ideology that children are mere fodder for their political manoeuvring.
Forgetting Christmas: The Greatest Story Never Told
A friend posted something today on the social media that caught my attention. It concerned a rather disturbing fact: one half of all Russian young people know nothing about their own nation’s murderous Communist past, including the Gulag, the crimes of Stalin, and so on. I chipped in by saying that just as worrying is the likely fact that probably a full three quarters of Australian and American young people don’t know about this either. The dumbing down of our young people, including their blatant historical illiteracy, is a huge worry indeed. Being ignorant of one’s own history is a recipe for disaster – as history proves. But of course we will never learn the lessons of history if we do not know history. So things will simply get worse as more and more people are cast adrift from their own past, and any knowledge of it.
"Shout Your Slaves" Campaign
A project where people brag about owning slaves is gaining momentum once again with publicity surrounding its new book, “Shout Your Slaves.” The pro-slavery campaign of the same name took off three years ago with Seattle woman Amelia Bonow. Since then, it has been promoted by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Amy Brenneman and Martha Plimpton, women’s magazines, and national news outlets. Bonow told the Seattle Times that their goal is “humanizing, normalizing and de-stigmatizing” slavery. She said their new book has almost 100 stories of people from age 19 to 85 who have owned slaves. Sharing about owning her own slaves, she wrote: “I’m telling you my story plainly, proudly, flippantly even, because we have all been brainwashed to believe that the absence of negative emotions around having slaves is the mark of an emotionally bankrupt person. It’s not. I have a good heart and my slaves make me happy.” After sharing her story in 2015, the campaign took off.
Why these nations rejected the UN Migration Pact
Update: since this post was written, 164 countries have signed the The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, although Brazil plans to pull out in January. Countries who rejected the pact include the US, Australia, Chile, Austria, Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Education Wars: Raising Your Child in an Anti-Child Culture
The recent Victorian election has resulted in the most hardcore left-wing government in Australia being re-elected. Indeed, Premier Dan Andrews boasts about how leftist it is “We are the most progressive state in the nation.” And with majorities in both houses, that means there is now really nothing to stop him and Labor from further implementing their diabolical secular left agenda. And most of these radical agenda items have a direct – and negative – bearing on our children. The wretched “Safe Schools” programs and the like is just one example. They will now go ahead much further and much faster. I have said all along that these dangerous programs will not be confined to state high schools. Primary schools will now also be targeted, along with Catholic, independent and Christian schools. Those who want to protect their children from radical sexualisation, including all things homosexual and transgender, will increasingly find fewer and fewer alternatives available to them.
There will soon be nowhere safe for the concerned parent to send their children. Even home schooling – which is becoming a big option for many – will be targeted by our hard-left governments. Indeed, already it is being heavily monitored and regulated, and one wonders how much longer it will be a viable and safe option. And it is now very likely that a Bill Shorten Labor government will win the federal election in May, further promoting and solidifying all the ungodly and immoral leftist agendas. So between the states controlled by radical Labor-Greens ideology, and the federal government, we soon will have the entire nation under their militant and coercive hegemony. So what are parents to do? Nothing of course – that is, if parents do not mind the militant takeover of education. If they do not give a rip about the homosexual and transgender brainwashing going on in our schools, the promotion of identity politics, the dumbing down of educational standards, and the radicalisation of students by leftist teachers and education unions. Then they need not do anything. But those parents who want their children to actually learn how to think – and not just be force fed what to think – and who seek to have them adhere to Judeo-Christian values and beliefs are quickly running out of options – certainly in the public school system.
As I mentioned, home schooling is one option for now, along with private schools. But as I also mentioned, these too will not be exempt from the radical social engineering plans of Dan Andrews, Bill Shorten and others. However, for now, the real culprit is public education. What to do? Many are saying that we have only one option here: Get your kids out now! Indeed, that is basically the title of one very important new book making the rounds in America. Mary Rice Hasson and Theresa Farnan have just released Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late (Regnery, 2018). The book is as serious and urgent as the title indicates. While describing the situation in America, it is fully applicable to what is happening here in Australia. The situation is really quite dire in America, and it seems that the only sensible option for concerned parents is to pull their kids out now before it gets even worse. I hope to have a full-length review of this book up in the next day or so, but let me here offer just a few snippets from it. The authors make a very strong case that the public education system is now so far gone that it seems to be irredeemable – at least in the foreseeable future. A paragraph in the introduction helps to set the tone for the book:
It’s time for an honest conversation about why we are losing our kids. Why are the children of patriotic Americans ready to believe the worst about their country? Why are the sons and daughters of committed believers becoming moral relativists and “nones”? Why are the children of well-grounded adults growing up unsure of “who they are” in the most basic sense—whether they are male or female—even as they embrace the mandates of identity politics?
Indeed, the opening chapters look at the madness of the transgender revolution which is being rammed down our children’s throats. The authors say that the militant LGBT gospel being peddled everywhere in our schools is the last straw, and demonstrates conclusively just how rotten to the core public education now is. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text #2" _builder_version="3.12.2"] The breath, depth and rapidity at which this evil sexual agenda has permeated all aspects of our school system is a clear indication of just how radically the schools have changed over the past half century. Indeed, the schools that most of us went to are no longer recognisable. The authors finish their book with these words:
American parents must face the reality that public schools are not going to improve in the next few decades. The political and ideological headwinds are too strong. As parents, you must first take care of your own children. It would be unthinkable to sacrifice your child’s future for the survival of the public school system. Look for alternatives: private school, parochial school, home school, cyber education, co-ops. Only you will be able to discern which school is right for your child. But we can assure you that if you are concerned about your child’s faith, intellectual formation, and patriotism, public schools are working against you. It’s time to get out, now.
But stay tuned for my full review of this very important and timely book. Australia is in the exact same boat as America is in this regard. Various radical leftist agendas have infiltrated and taken over almost all schooling in the West. Victorians now face very uncertain times with a hyper-left government in place, hell-bent on pushing deplorable anti-child agendas. Parents who care about the moral and spiritual wellbeing of their children need to prayerfully and carefully look at various options other than the state school system. Just yesterday a piece in the Herald Sun featured this headline: “More parents give school the flick.” It said this: “More Victorian families are shunning a traditional classroom education at school and are teaching their children at home with the number of home schooled students sky rocketing”.
That will increasingly be an option for many – as long as it is allowed to continue! Sure, not everyone may be able to home school, and other options will have to be looked at. But as I warned, all these options will be coming under further attack, and the future is looking very bleak indeed. We may soon get to a place where perhaps the only viable option remaining is to pack up and leave and find a country that still honours traditional and Christian values, and still seeks to help, and not harm, our children. Some of these nations still exist – including a number in eastern Europe. Maybe I will see you in Hungary! Update As mentioned, here is my review of this important book: billmuehlenberg.com/2018/11/27/a-review-of-get-out-now-by-mary-rice-hasson-and-theresa-farnan/